tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-304955722017-10-22T05:15:38.035-07:00Uniquity"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."
-C. S. LewisUrielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.comBlogger253125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-82072396196043474802016-10-03T12:55:00.005-07:002016-10-03T12:55:56.818-07:00#2<b>NUM 19 - the Red Heifer for the "water for impurity"</b><br />Of course I think of Jesus, with the same sacrifice (connected by blood to the tent of meeting) used over and over to cleanse subsequent uncleannesses. &nbsp;He was offered only once, yet we are still cleansed by nothing else.<br /><br />V.10 is a theme repeated over and over in the Law, that there's "One statute both for the people of Israel &amp; those who sojourn with them." &nbsp;Outsiders didn't get to say "I don't believe in that stuff, count me out". If anyone's living with us, we shouldn't allow them to live however they please in our communities, there is one way to live if you're living with us, whether or not you "believe in it".<br /><br />We know that a man doesn't get unclean from what's outside, but as Jesus said from the things that come from the heart. As Christians we still become unclean in that way, and still need to cleanse ourselves and one another. V.21 says the one who applies the water of cleansing to the unclean person made me think of Galatians 6:1 where we're told to restore one another gently looking out so we aren't tempted ourselves. &nbsp;The last few verses remind me of Jude 23, how dicey a work it seems to be to rescue a brother or sister in sin.<br /><br /><br /><b>PS 57</b><br />V.9 stood out, as one more reason to sing. &nbsp;Singing is a constant Judeo/Christian practice throughout history, more than in any other "religion", &amp; David says he does it in the midst of the unbelieving nations because God's faithfulness and love for him lasts beyond Gentile lands, even to the atmosphere and outer space.<br /><br /><br /><b>DAN 12</b><br />The prophecy of the end proper, Daniel is told that at the time of great trouble "Your people shall be delivered" - I'm friends with a lot of Postmillennialist believers, who take most passages like this to refer to A.D. 70, yet this is decidedly NOT talking about the destruction of all Jerusalem and the diaspora/persecution of all Jews!, even if you factor in "everyone whose name is found written in the book". &nbsp; In Vs.7 again, the "shattering of the power of the Holy people" must come to an end.<br /><br />V.10 speaks (reminiscent of Num19) of those who "purify themselves" for the time of the end. &nbsp;As John said in his first letter, "He who has this hope in him purifies himself as He is pure"<br /><br /><br /><b>1 Thess 4</b><br />The will of God is our sanctification, called (V7) not for impurity, but in holiness that's concerned with what we do bodily (V4) &amp; for the holiness of all our brothers/sisters as well; not to transgress or lead one another into uncleanness, but to encourage with knowledge of the Lord's coming, and increase of brotherly love one another. This seems to be the biggest recurrent theme in all my readings today.<br /><br /><br />Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-44899507100713022502016-09-06T12:12:00.000-07:002016-09-06T12:12:01.589-07:00#1Num. 10<br /><br />YHWH told Moses to make two silver trumpets, and then gives them all kinds of instructions on when and how to use them as a signal-system for moving the congregation (one long blast for gathering an assembly, an "alarm blast" to ready for war maneuvers, with details on who moves with what kind of blast). &nbsp;Reminders here of Paul's review in his first letter to Corinth (ch14) of proper use of glossolalia and prophecy:<br /><i>"Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle? So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air..." </i><br />Do the prophets and teachers and singers in the Church fulfill the same function of guiding God's people on earth in their "maneuvers" to advance His kingdom here?<br /><br /><br />Interesting to me is that God told them these trumpets were supposed to be "A perpetual statute throughout your generations". &nbsp;That means in constant use, as long as there are Jews around. &nbsp;Of course that's not been the case in practice (as with lots of other things that were said to be "perpetual statutes" e.g. God's name YHWH and the 7th day Sabbath), but I remember seeing a relief on the "Arch of Titus" (made in honor of the sack of Jerusalem in AD 70) among the temple goods being pillaged by Roman soldiers were two long trumpets. &nbsp;Also, Ethiopian christians in Axum (the ones who claim to have the Ark of the Covenant) have in the same church two ancient silver trumpets, wrapped in cloth. &nbsp;They say these were brought down (with the ark) during the times of the Kings of Israel to protect them from invaders. &nbsp;So perhaps these trumpets still exist somewhere, though not in use. <br /><br />But even during the OT times, the trumpets couldn't always be used to gather the whole congregation, since once they entered the land they were spread out over 8,000+ miles. But they were to be "A perpetual statute". &nbsp;We see similar things with the Tabernacle, which slowly fades out of use (or morphs into a solid and stationary structure) as the Temple becomes the dwelling of the Ark and the location of corporate worship. So God's ordinances, though perhaps not functioning in the exact same way as when first instituted, are still legitimate for whatever ordained uses they still fulfill.<br /><br />Lots of neat names in this chapter, including "Gamaliel" (name-ancestor of Paul's yeshiva teacher?).<br /><br />Then there is Moses' recorded words for the going out of the Ark, which David repeats in the 68th Psalm: "Arise O LORD, &amp; let your enemies be scattered". &nbsp;King David must have been literate, and probably copied out the books of Moses for himself (as God commanded in those books for kings to do.) In thinking over this chapter, David was inspired to make a Psalm about it, including the phrase "Sinai is now in the Sanctuary", speaking about God's developing of the ancient ordinances - Sinai, the Mountain of God, has now somehow been spiritually relocated to Zion in Jerusalem. &nbsp;There's also a Messianic prophecy there, talking about the Temple of Christ's body, resurrected, rising from the dead and ascending with "captives in His train".<br /><br />Then there's the Ark setting out three day's journey in advance of the rest of the congregation to find a good camping spot for the people, but we also read that Moses asked Hobab (his desert dwelling Midianite brother in law) to act as a desert scout for them. &nbsp;Even in the midst of the supernatural guidance and demonstration of God's presence and power, there was room for normal means, a local scout to find a good spot. &nbsp;Hobab probably went with the ark to find a camp for them.<br /><br /><br />PS 46<br />It's not by David, but by a committee (the Sons of Korah)<br />They open with a description of circumstances that sound a lot like the great flood that destroyed the earth (of which most nations have ancestral memory - many Native tribes do, including my own, India did, Greece did.), but preface it all saying that "Hey, even when things look like that, WE won't be afraid. <br />I think of apocalyptic movies, with asteroids hitting the earth, or giant volcanoes/tsunamis destroying the better part of it, or even "2012" complete with global flood/ark. &nbsp;Crowds of people screaming and running. &nbsp;My daughter used to be terrified of those scenes, I know I was as a kid. <br /><br />Now of course this statement of fearlessness is silly if we expect in times like those (heck, even normal disease and aging!) to be passed over as we "hide in God". &nbsp;But we do not fear death, as people who have hidden in the ever-present God, who even if our mortal body is destroyed (see Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5) has prepared an eternal one for us in the heavens, and will remake the whole universe for us to live in.<br /><br />When do the psalmists say we'll get that help, that "regeneration of all things"? See vs. 5. &nbsp; As one who has children in the grave, I know that the morning hasn't dawned yet, and wait for it eagerly.<br /><br />It's that judgment and remaking that the Psalmists speak about in vss 4-11, the destruction of rebellious nations, making an end of all war, the final exaltation of God's kingdom on earth, including the city of God on earth, with the river of the water of life (see the beginning of the last chapter in the Bible) coming from its center.<br /><br />So we're without fear through all troubles and disasters here, knowing that we're in the hands of an ever present God, confident that He will preserve us though we die, and waiting until "morning dawns".<br /><br />DAN 3<br /><br />This is the exception to Romans 13:1. &nbsp;When the world-spirit commands to worship, we are commanded to be silent.<br />In fact, though Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are told they'll be tossed into a furnace to have their skin melted off (People can be pretty severely burned before the heat goes far enough into the body to kill them, it's got to be a nasty way to go) if they don't violate YHWH's second commandment, they answer as men who know the truth of the Psalm above. &nbsp;"Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us...but if not...we will not serve your gods."<br /><br />This is like the state of Christians at the present. The whole world has been commanded by the world spirit and his puppet governors to break the commands of God or face the consequences: to shut up about abortion,&nbsp;to approve sexual perversion,&nbsp;to agree with atheistic ideas about the universe's origin. &nbsp;We may all resist and refuse to comply in our own small ways, it's only a matter of time until "certain Chaldeans [come] forward and maliciously accuse [the Christians]" (vs.8)<br /><br />Maybe God will yet astonish and convince even the present wicked rulers of His majesty and power when non-compliant believers hold fast and are rescued, remembering the ever-present God and our hope of resurrection. &nbsp;I hope &amp; pray that this is such a time.<br /><br />COL 2<br /><br />Paul is showing here what he says about himself in 2 Cor 11:28&nbsp;<i>"Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches".&nbsp;</i>Here he's upset because people he knows are getting distracted and derailed from real Christian faith and practice by two roads connected to (but veering off from) the clear truth: circumcision and philosophy. <br />On the one hand, <i>human </i>philosophy, with human presuppositions and starting points, has lots to commend it: plausible arguments, the name of wisdom, knowledge, revealing mysteries of the Universe. &nbsp;We go to college for such things. &nbsp;We are shocked into silence and contemplation by "deep" movies and stories. &nbsp;They can be good so far as they go, many have bits of the truth in them and have paths that run for a few miles in the Way before they diverge. &nbsp;But they do, all of them, diverge. &nbsp;There is only one source of Truth, one great revealer of the Universe (and its Maker!) &nbsp;The eternal Logos, through which the universe was made and by which it is held in existence, who became flesh as and embryo-&gt;baby-&gt;man and walked around Israel for 30+ years teaching and healing before being killed and rising, who now sits at the right hand of the Father.<br />Jesus, who Paul's always on about.<br />On the other hand, <i>human </i>circumcision, an ancient practice, commended as an eternal statute in the Writings, the sign of God's chosen people distinguishing them from the nations as keepers of the Law of God through Moses, and with it all manner of customs and dietary habits that set people apart from those around them, that take a lifetime to master. &nbsp;There are many whose faith is derailed by special practices, (most of them inferior to circumcision!) that set them apart as the true keepers - special diets, outward signs, liturgical practices, all of which may have been useful and practical to turn men's minds to their sins and the necessity of having them removed to be separate and special to God. But all these signs are eventually made into something they are not. They cannot remove sin. They cannot purify the heart, they cannot defeat the evil spirits that would be our masters. &nbsp;But there is one who can do all these things, who DID all these things with a better circumcision of heart, with a <i>real </i>separation from the surrounding world by dying in Him to it and raising with Him from death - real Life, real difference:<br />Jesus, who Paul's always on about.<br /><br />Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-12128609034968474882016-09-06T10:44:00.000-07:002016-09-06T10:44:07.496-07:00New Task?I'm going to try something new, that should give me more consistent subject matter for this blog. &nbsp;Several years ago I read (I can't remember where) that Francis Schaeffer used to read four chapters of the bible a day, three from the Old Testament, and one from the New. &nbsp;Since that time I've adopted the same practice, and with God's help I've been able to keep it up 'til the present. &nbsp;I keep tabs in my bible that I move as I read, and write notes and observations and cross references as I go. <br /><br />So what I'm hoping to do with some regularity is to put down some of my observations in this format. &nbsp;I hope this will serve two functions; to edify anyone who stumbles across them, and two, to give me a place other than a notebook (which I have the habit of losing) to record them.Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-19459708062204134972015-08-30T22:35:00.003-07:002015-08-30T22:35:57.900-07:00Iesous<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.7600002288818px;">The answer to a question</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.7600002288818px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.7600002288818px;">seldom asked</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.7600002288818px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.7600002288818px;">but its shape is cast</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.7600002288818px;"><br />into the festering<br />and groaning earth<br />dragged from the past<br />yard and mast<br />taint and curse<br />the broadcast ascends<br />from the mouth of dust<br />now ignorance must<br />make, and receive amends.</span>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-64175331023285082392015-08-29T18:06:00.000-07:002015-08-29T18:06:14.050-07:00Unleaven'd<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #6f6f6f; font-family: 'Sue Ellen Francisco'; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;"><br /></h3><div class="post-header" style="background-color: white; color: darkgrey; font-family: Puritan; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2490333933845232018" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #6f6f6f; font-family: Puritan; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“...after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all,"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”"</span></h4><span id="docs-internal-guid-53ad241a-7bf7-612e-e62f-c80e83095737"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lord warned his twelve against the leaven of the Pharisees. &nbsp;The disciples were concerned about the obvious failings, the practical mistakes they had made that were evident to all. &nbsp;But the Lord spoke about something else, something it took clarification to bring their attention to. &nbsp;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hypocrisy.</span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why tell them to “look out” for it unless there were danger - danger that it would take root in themselves? &nbsp;This is why he calls it “leaven”. &nbsp;It only takes a little, but once it finds its way into the dough, it will grow, and grow, until it has infected the whole. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look out for it. &nbsp;We see men fall like trees in a forest full of loggers, and we think Oh God, look at the hypocrisy! &nbsp;The leaven has been discovered, once its work was done. &nbsp;Are the disciples of Christ immune? &nbsp;No! We have need to watch. &nbsp;Neither it is a harmless reality of the Kingdom, that hypocrisy is present in some. &nbsp;You might hear it spoken about in some circles when talking about the nature of the Church: “Yes, the church is full of hypocrites, there’s room for one more”. &nbsp;This does not address the leaven with the same wariness that the Lord commands. &nbsp;But what the Lord commands is not just to look out for this leaven in others, but in ourselves. &nbsp;There would be little point in watching if prevention were impossible. </span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t say this because I’ve seen hypocrisy take root in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">other</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> men. &nbsp;It is, like leaven, a silent, slow, steady worker. &nbsp;You don’t notice it, but your religion becomes less and less about communion with God and doing his will (concerning yourself with His Kingdom and Righteousness) and more and more becomes “I must do these things, so that people will know there is a godly man on the earth.” &nbsp;And all the while dark things grow in our private practice. Lies and inconsistencies grow when we are not in the light of public opinion and choke the life that once flowed from God to us in private. &nbsp;We say things we ought not say, we look at things we ought not look at, we meditate on things we ought not meditate on, and desires for dark things grow where there was once light. </span><span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.</span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Take heed” - Watch out for this! &nbsp;It is always there, the leaven is like pollen in the air, encapsulated in teachings that are mere human traditions, in a prideful attitude that is grateful it is not like other men, excusing its vices (evil thoughts--murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander) while making sure to maintain the clean exterior, convincing themselves that it is for the glory of God that they must maintain appearances. &nbsp;In the Church in Corinth, it manifested among other things as a boastful concern for being of a prestigious party while allowing sexual immorality to flourish in their midst. &nbsp;In Peter it manifested as a refusal to eat with Gentiles.</span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Watch out, it is in the world still. &nbsp;If you see it growing in you, cut it off and throw it away. &nbsp;Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. &nbsp;We are crucified to the world and it to us. &nbsp;It is no longer we who live but He who lives in us - provided He lives in us. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not with old leaven, </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, </span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.</span></div></div><br />Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-37127838826900184712015-08-27T22:33:00.001-07:002015-08-27T22:33:32.508-07:00"There will no longer be any sea"<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XbFH3G9-6u8/Vd_yTw8RRrI/AAAAAAAAHAg/nHjTmRhYi5A/s1600/842413a10dbcdb96aac6fcdad2015bb5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XbFH3G9-6u8/Vd_yTw8RRrI/AAAAAAAAHAg/nHjTmRhYi5A/s320/842413a10dbcdb96aac6fcdad2015bb5.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>Take that wave stretching decades to the sky<br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">it’s a dragon, leviathan flashing sacrificial fire</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">we know its hell-home, no bathymetry</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">is called for to crest and conquer</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">the swallower of souls</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;"><br />our ship is able<br />of Noachic build, and we<br />are a crew already drowned.<br />Impervious, we breathe a different air<br />so sail on, men and brothers, sisters fair<br />the shock of water-weight strikes down<br />on oiled brows - for we are christened as our keel and king<br />and will cut through this sea, that cartographic kenning<br />surely holds fast as friends, and it is written<br />we will cut the serpent wave, until the sea will be no more.</span>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-22590778606084046382015-08-18T05:20:00.001-07:002015-08-18T05:20:01.382-07:00The Nature of Allegory<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 29.9999980926514px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-family: inherit; font-size: 2.61111em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.26383em; margin: 30px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://xn42.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/1241-the-nature-of-allegory/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 46.9999809265137px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">12:4:1 – The Nature of&nbsp;Allegory</a></h1></header><div class="entry-content" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 29.9999980926514px; margin: 30px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://xn42.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/brazen_sea.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="brazen_sea" class="size-medium wp-image-155 alignright" height="300" src="https://xn42.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/brazen_sea.jpg?w=211&amp;h=300" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 14.85px -125.49999px 14.85px 30px; max-width: 100%;" width="211" /></a>Reading through 2 Chronicles 4, one of the many details of the Temple’s construction stood out to me: the “sea”. It’s an odd sort of furnishing in the first place – tables, lampstands, those seem natural, but this huge chunk of bronze seems a little bit unusual. Then the numbers struck me. 12 bulls. Often 12 has something to do with the 12 tribes in the OT, so this made me pay attention. Then that they faced the four cardinal directions, something about the animals and the directions made me think of the book of revelation, angels holding back the four winds, oxen-faced cherubim, seas of glass around the throne – things like that. “One sea” (v.15) – it’s interesting to me that it’s numbered, not just “the sea” or “a sea”.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Long story short, I made an allegorical connection. The association occurred to me that the sea represents&nbsp;our “one baptism”. The oxen represent the twelve disciples/apostles of Christ, facing the four directions of the earth to bring it to all nations, from Jerusalem, as the Lord commanded.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I think I can defend this particular bit of allegory with&nbsp;Scripture, since we know from the NT that the elements of the house of God represent spiritual realities (Hebrews 9 comes immediately to mind). So it’s not a stretch to think that it means something more than a bunch of bronze cows (because ancient near-eastern people liked to decorate things with cows?) holding up a big bath for priests because, as we all know, cleanliness is next to godliness.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Even the “lily” shape of the rim lends itself to the allegory, since the Hebrew for lily (shushan) means “whiteness”, and the waters of baptism are to wash us white in the blood of the lamb. The sea was for the cleansing of the priests, and we are to be a kingdom of priests to our God. I found lots of little things that commended themselves to me as coherent symbols.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But then, that’s the problem with allegory; how do you prove beyond a doubt that your picture is right? &nbsp;Some symbolic connections&nbsp;in the OT that wouldn’t jump out at most of us are revealed as&nbsp;allegory by the inspired writers – the story of Hagar/Ishmael Sarah/Isaac being the most obvious &nbsp;(Gal 4:24). &nbsp;Yet for the great mass of OT symbolism&nbsp;there’s no explicit NT exposition. &nbsp;I’ve heard it suggested that we shouldn’t even try to find allegories beyond those the NT writers reveal. &nbsp;I don’t buy that, since the section of Hebrews I appeal to above indicates that there is lots of untapped symbolism there, and the Scriptures were given us for edification and study. &nbsp;But the question remains, how do you know you’re not just finding similarities that are incidental but unintended? And what about details that remain puzzling, like the cast mass of gourds around the sea? I have a hard time thinking of a spiritual significance for gourds. I mean, a valid one; it’s easy enough to conjure up&nbsp;connections&nbsp;off the cuff: “gourds are used to hold water, thence they are symbolic for the baptized bringing the water of life to the nations” there, I just made that up. But it’s not very satisfying. I don’t know how much if at all gourds were used to carry water in the ANE (ancient Near East), and the cast gourds aren’t spoken of as being meant to carry water. There’s more to a valid&nbsp;allegory than finding connections.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So, I acknowledge there are reasons to doubt any given allegorical interpretation. Even one of the historical figures&nbsp;criticized&nbsp;for his allegorical bent, Augustine, acknowledges this. In his “City of God” (book 15, chapter 26) he details his Christological allegory of the ark, but then acknowledges it may not satisfy all and opens up the field for others to make one better. &nbsp;He gives some alternate explanations he’s heard from others, and staunchly maintains&nbsp;that&nbsp;all those details weren’t put in there for nothing. This is the word of God meant for us. Sure it’s history, but it must mean something beyond just being a big boat to rescue folks from the flood. Something for us. Something about Christ. So figure out some allegory, and as long as it’s not ridiculous and fits with the central truths of the Christian faith, then more power to you. It may not even be correct, it may give way to a better one, but at least it’ll be edifying.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Not to say that all interpretations are equally valid, not at all. Just as in science, there can be multiple hypotheses that account for the data, and they must be judged by how well they account for it. Yet the impulse to discover spiritual meanings to OT details is not, I think, a bad impulse. If there is an intended symbolism in the detailed descriptions of the Scriptures (and it seems very plain that there is) we shouldn’t shy from attempting to make something of it. Not all symbols are equally difficult, some seem to me to be nigh undeniable (the “scapegoat” for instance). Some we’ll have to work harder for. &nbsp;And when&nbsp;we find one that&nbsp;strikes us as valid, we may have to hold to it with an open hand as Augustine advised.&nbsp;But we shouldn’t abandon the quest just because it involves uncertainty.</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In a practical age, it will probably be asked “what good are allegories?” &nbsp;To which I respond by asking you to meditate on a line from the hymn “This is my Father’s World”:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“This is my father’s world, He shines in all that’s fair, in the rustling grass I can hear him pass, he speaks to me everywhere”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />If God can speak to us and reveal his beauty and presence in wind blowing through the grass, in the details of creation, how is it so remarkable that he would do the same in the pages of the writings handed down to us from the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles as the word of God?</div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So there you have it. Four directions, one baptism, 12 bulls to bear the message of cleansing and rebirth. “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The global purposes of God and the mission of his servants. &nbsp;If nothing else, I hope that next time you read through Chronicles, those realities come to mind.</div></div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-90121115887253279832015-05-23T05:26:00.001-07:002015-05-23T05:26:16.445-07:00May18<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">A world died today,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">the bones of the universe</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">are out of joint, and the day</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">of its healing remains unseen.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">Yet who hopes for what he already has?</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;"><br />There will be a restoration of all things,<br />when He comes who made Pleiades<br />and formed Orion.</span>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-87321436048856729572015-04-24T18:22:00.003-07:002015-04-24T18:32:04.005-07:00One way valve - installed the wrong way.<div class="MsoNormal">A strange bit of reasoning I've seen pop up several times in reference to different popular vices. &nbsp;The most recent of which was part of a conversation where some Christians were urging others to be part of homosexual 'weddings', but I've seen it used in other disputes as well. &nbsp;Here it is:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Well, we don’t confront </i>[some established sin]<i> when it occurs in the Church, so it would be hypocritical to confront </i>[the sin currently being pressed on the Church]<i>”.</i><br /><br />In the particular conversation I mentioned above, the argument was "since Christians don't distance themselves from remarriage weddings (which Jesus said -w/possible qualifiers- are adultery), they should not refuse to be part of homosexual 'weddings'."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />Don’t the people making the argument realize that such a policy is basically a one-way valve allowing all sin to be normalized into the Body of Christ, and for no sin to be expunged?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />Doesn’t it make more sense to say that since Scripture speaks against both practices - the established sin and the one they’re lobbying to introduce -&nbsp; we should obey God and curtail *both* sins?&nbsp;<o:p></o:p><br /><br />As difficult as it has been, I've intentionally not gone to several divorce-remarriage weddings of people I love because they had not had Scriptural justification for their divorces, and I am convinced from Scripture that it would be false to God and to them to affirm their remarriage with my presence.</div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-48581925406027029912015-04-19T23:29:00.000-07:002015-04-19T23:58:52.613-07:00MnemonicsMy shoe box has filled up with days<br />a hill of pages, stacked in reams<br />while I on top<br />look back on youth<br />from traveled age.<br />The cord, I feel, is growing thin<br />the process has long since begun<br />when heaviness to soil consigned<br />gravely planted for a Son to find<br />my waiting breath then carried up<br />wrapped about with every page<br />remembered,<br />to wait through my long cold December<br />in that presence I have longed to see<br />with friends to wait for every spring<br />I once, so many years ago<br />was born with skin,<br />and will yet wake<br />a child - and a man,<br />with my children all around me.Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-83038462630781199902015-01-22T09:29:00.000-08:002015-01-22T09:29:39.941-08:001 Sam 15This is the story of how Saul lost the kingship of Israel. <br />I find it interesting how at the end Samuel announces to Saul that this "tearing away the kingdom" from him will without doubt happen because God is "not a man, that He should lie or repent".&nbsp; Yet, Samuel grieved over Saul, and it's noted that the LORD also repented that He had made Saul king.<br />So, The Lord doesn't repent, but He repented of making Saul king?<br /><br />What if Saul had refused to believe that the LORD doesn't repent, and thought "Perhaps, if God can change his mind about me being king, then maybe - if I repent -&nbsp; he will change it back?"<br /><br />Of course, Saul seems to have no real regard for the LORD, since during the account he constantly calls the LORD "your [Samuel's] God", and rather than even trying to repent (even if all to be gained from repentance were a restored personal relationship to the LORD) He gets Samuel to go through the motions so he can be honored before the elders of his people, but isn't exerting any energy to be honored by "Samuel's" God.&nbsp; Saul's attitude reminds me of a verse from Isaiah: "Stop regarding man, in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-12257937865863977352015-01-10T05:45:00.001-08:002015-01-10T05:45:24.695-08:001 Peter 1:8All best dreams find flesh and bone<br />as in your footprints they are sown<br />surge up like mountains from seeds of stone<br />who thought, to see you bleed &amp; groan<br />was cursing coming all unwound?<br />The first day saw you break the ground<br />of newer earth, of fresher years<br />you rose up, casting off our fears<br />the Wind rushed out, He washed us clean<br />and made us who we'd never been<br />betrothed in water to worlds unseen<br />once caked with death, now scoured clean<br />with songs and strength to fight within<br />to face the night, and standing, win<br />bind up wounds, and cast down gods<br />with shining feet, prepared and shod<br />for every good work done through pain,<br />until we wake, with You again.Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-28121547633716156722015-01-01T03:17:00.002-08:002015-01-01T05:45:35.599-08:00Mary New Year's Eve.<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Old Year was more like four</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">-Since Eve brought in the dark;</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Had all the world, but wanted more</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">And got trespassed from the park.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">New Year is still going strong</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br />Her Eve was full of belief;<br />She said “let it be”, and sang up a psalm<br />bringing fruit that would bear up our grief.</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlmiY8TRz78/VKVPOcpqknI/AAAAAAAAA2g/cQafpk75Zx4/s1600/marycomfortseve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlmiY8TRz78/VKVPOcpqknI/AAAAAAAAA2g/cQafpk75Zx4/s1600/marycomfortseve.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(not my artwork)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"></span></div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-47202783899335532962014-10-28T21:38:00.001-07:002014-10-28T21:53:55.582-07:00Death, death, death...will be undone.This whole life and universe were a dead body of mine,<br />a scab to cover all my flesh and seal my breath<br />to get out, to pull it off me<br />but I had to walk in it until it rotted off instead.<br /><br />My prayers had no power, they were a gun that wouldn't fire<br />those weapons mighty to pull down strongholds<br />were not mighty in my hand<br />I swung them, they cut only me.<br />the strongholds held<br />and the light fell.<br /><br />I entered a new and older world<br />full of wrinkles, and the smell of age.<br />Every day a weary turning and every chapter a dim-lit dream<br />I saw color though, false color-<br />every time I woke up blind.<br /><br />Every time the voice of the prior world<br />couldn't make it - wasn't loud enough<br />for time makes us all deaf<br />and does not heal,<br />but cauterizes.<br /><br />But there is another world<br />and there is a living body<br />and there is a real daylight, real color,<br />and nothing good - no one small<br />is devoured when they are swallowed<br />we will see there<br />that every bullet found its mark<br />for it will,<br />this corpse it will,<br />rot away.<br /><br />And behind it?<br />Behind it?<br />Lies the Day,<br />lies Himself.<br /><br />Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-17340280454673251952014-09-19T03:37:00.002-07:002014-09-19T03:51:47.088-07:00Tattoos, blood, and dubious appeals to context.<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">A while ago I went on a short rant about how often I see an unsupported appeal to "context" to explain away all sorts of uncomfortable scriptures. While cataloguing my books, I ran across an example I'd like to share with you. The author is dealing w/ Lev. 19:28:</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBlP_7y_ROI/VBwKWn993wI/AAAAAAAAAyE/XXsQOVHnvik/s1600/context-marketing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBlP_7y_ROI/VBwKWn993wI/AAAAAAAAAyE/XXsQOVHnvik/s1600/context-marketing.jpg" height="320" width="246" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"If we study Leviticus in its context, we see that it isn't talking about tattoos in ge</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">neral, but tattoos that identify a person with a pagan deity or pagan practice. Two verses before, it forbids the eating of meat with blood in it. Does this mean you can't eat your steaks rare? Not at all. This is talking specifically about the meat that was offered as a sacrifice, not an evening out at Mortons..." (Kimmel, 'Grace Based Parenting', pp. 155,156)<br /><br />Ok, so we have an appeal to context, and an absolute claim (unsupported in the book) that the prohibition unambiguously applies only to pagan tattoos. Then even more troubling, a similar unsupported appeal to context is used to say that the prohibition against eating blood applies only to sacrificial meats, which is a very, very dubious bit of exegesis! By the same token we could say vs. 29 means we can't sell our daughters into *pagan* prostitution, but regular prostitution is OK. Do a search for "eat, blood" on biblegateway and read how many vss. prohibit it strongly. Also, read Deut. 12:20-25 and ask yourself if that sounds like a general prohibition against eating blood or not. Read Lev. 17:14 and ask yourself if that seems like a rationale for the prohibition. And then look at Acts 15:20,29 and 21:25 and see that the prohibition carries into the NT, and if you feel inclined to say that there too it applies only to blood sacrificed to idols, then ask yourself why you don't say only the sexual immorality prohibited in the same verse only applies to that done in worship to idols.<br /><br />All that so say, a well-supported understanding of the actual, demonstrated historical and textual context is very important to interpretation, but <b>don't </b>let writers sucker you with appeals to context that <i>aren't </i>carefully supported and <i>especially </i>when they ignore the whole testimony of Scripture. &nbsp;I'm sure we've all imbibed bucketloads of asides like this on our course of reading books and listening to sermons, and probably repeated them too, not without effect. My advice would be when someone is telling you the bible <i>doesn't </i>mean what it seems to be saying, don't take their word for it, even if they say the magical word "context", until you've verified that it indeed IS the context and that it doesn't go against the rest of the witness of the Scriptures.</span>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-81992541211825661712014-09-19T03:28:00.000-07:002014-09-19T03:57:39.387-07:00The Risk of Obedience Vs. the Risk of Inaction<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Baskerville Old Face&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;">In several conversations with friends about Abolition, it has come up that we are at risk of “judging” and it is often pointed out what our Lord, his brother, and his apostles said about judging others.&nbsp; Now the proper understanding of what kind of judging the Lord was warning against has been dealt with elsewhere, yet even with a proper understanding of the sin of judging in mind, I’ve never brushed aside the concern when my brothers and sisters have brought it up.&nbsp; I agree, it IS a risk.<br /><br />Yet to live is to risk. In God’s appointed order time pushes us on, through crossroad after crossroad where we must take risks in order to obey, and when we reach the Celestial City, we will not be asked how studiously we avoided risks.&nbsp; This applies even to risks of sin. To avoid risk is not to avoid sin.&nbsp; In Galatians 6:1, Paul directs us to risk sin in order to help a brother.&nbsp; Every act of obedience carries with it a risk of sin.&nbsp; The risk is unavoidable, and we aren’t too busy ourselves avoiding it.&nbsp; We are to obey with open eyes, watching ourselves lest we be tempted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Baskerville Old Face&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;">If we fear the Master, thinking Him a hard man, he will try us by our own words and ask why we did not invest his gifts in the necessary risks, risking failure to give him a return.&nbsp; There will be, he has told us, those who come cringing out holding the gift returned, unrisked, unprofitable.&nbsp; He may well say to them on that day:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Baskerville Old Face&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;">“I gave you a task, I have you my Truth, my Spirit, my gifts, and you did not use them to pray with your every action that my Father’s will would be done on earth as in heaven; you did not use them to cry out against murder and mayhem, to follow your master in driving out Beelzebub and destroying his works.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Baskerville Old Face&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />Action, obedience, is risky.&nbsp; Our judgment is never guaranteed to be perfect – it is true that with crying out against murder and oppression comes the risk of sin, yet not to do this comes with risk as well! A great and terrible risk: to neglect the command to love our neighbor as ourselves, to fail to take into account the weightier matters of the law.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CYPPppiRxY/VBwLqS5MUjI/AAAAAAAAAyM/K-ae_rCbp7E/s1600/Revelation-Chapter-20-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CYPPppiRxY/VBwLqS5MUjI/AAAAAAAAAyM/K-ae_rCbp7E/s1600/Revelation-Chapter-20-21.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Baskerville Old Face&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt;">There is something further. I suspect that what prompts so many to point out the risk taken by abolitionists is not a genuine fear of the possibility of unrighteous judging.&nbsp; I am afraid that it might be something less noble, less spiritual – that it might be the fear of man, the fear of contradicting the spirit of the age and facing a dragon’s wrath.&nbsp; They know that the dragon only pursues those who keep the commandments of God as well as the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 12:7), and this makes them not very eager to keep those commands.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Baskerville Old Face&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;MS Mincho&quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">In short, I am afraid that this is in many cases nothing but cowardice.&nbsp; Now I sympathize with those who fear man, I have felt that fear myself.&nbsp; We are commanded to have mercy on those who doubt.&nbsp; Yet we are, at the end of the day, not those who shrink back and are destroyed - but those who believe and are saved.&nbsp; The coward has no lasting refuge in inaction; we know this and have a sobering warning from our Lord.&nbsp; Turn to the twenty-first chapter of Revelation and read; in the list of those who have not conquered, the <i>cowardly</i> who shrunk so studiously from risk and the fear of public scorn will have the reward for their great care: their portion in the lake of fire, along with </span><span style="background: white; font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face', serif; font-size: 11pt;">the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.<br /><br />And what of those who risked, watching themselves to remain unstained yet always striving towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, keeping His word? “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and&nbsp;I will be his God and&nbsp;he will be my son.”</span>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-65976900651534449202014-08-26T23:53:00.001-07:002014-09-19T03:28:49.613-07:00Beatitude #2<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Abadi MT Condensed Light&quot;; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Gill Sans&quot;; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” – The Lord Jesus Christ<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Abadi MT Condensed Light&quot;; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Gill Sans&quot;; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>247</o:Words> <o:Characters>1410</o:Characters> <o:Company>SPU</o:Company> 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mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Abadi MT Condensed Light&quot;; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Gill Sans&quot;; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some interpret this as those who mourn over their sin, in keeping with the “blessed are the poor in spirit” that comes just before it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Others affirm that it applies to those who mourn in general, over the sorry condition of the world, death and wickedness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But can’t it be both?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Trace both of these back; the external evils of the world around us, and the evil of indwelling sin. Both are good reasons for mourning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Both have a common root in a single event: “The tree of prohibition, root of all our woe.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>And how can we be comforted?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>How is it possible to reverse something so far upstream?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>To undo the transgression that the whole creation -including we who have the first fruits of the Spirit- have been mourning over?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>For that we would need a new temptation – but this time overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We would need a new Adam, a new Eve for that Adam, a Tree of Life, a New Heavens and Earth!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>And that is what God has begun to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Well, we have the comfort of knowing we are forgiven, we have the comfort of seeing present victories over indwelling sin through the Spirit, and now and again we are comforted when God through His mercy heals physical ills when we pray in Jesus’ name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>But we look for the day when the deal is done - when all causes for mourning, within and without, are done away with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>And those who hope for just this (and rejoice in what measure they have presently received it) wait for the full overturning that will bring them the comfort that they mourn for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Only those who hunger and thirst for the setting right of everything will be satisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-40077351779305642702014-04-11T04:08:00.001-07:002014-04-11T04:08:08.384-07:00M25<div class="MsoNormal">Does fear pith our volition when</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">It feels like guesswork to begin<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The land ahead was never mapped<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The signal’s dead, and knowledge sapped<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And you must forward, forward go<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Build on fragments of the known<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Does it feel unfair, and make you squirm<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">To be tested in what you’d never learned?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Our days are not a paper test<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">To judge our gleanings from a text<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The eyes that see, the fire tries<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The central stuff with this assize<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Know: steadfast love is what’s desired<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Producing poor from wealthy liars<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Sheep and goats will both say “when”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">As test results are coming in<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">On the rock, or on the sand?<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">The Storm assays the sons of man<o:p></o:p></div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-61712526949872404202013-09-09T01:26:00.003-07:002013-09-09T01:26:28.722-07:00A Comparison of Abortion to Slavery and Genocide.<br /><h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 33px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Here's an article I published on Wordpress:</span></h1><h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 33px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://lotp.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/the-abolitionist-the-comparison-of-abortion-to-slavery/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE ABOLITIONIST: The Comparison of Abortion to&nbsp;Slavery</a></h1><div class="entry entry-content" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 1.7em 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://lotp.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/the-abolistionist-header.png" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="The Abolistionist Header" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-982" height="58" src="http://lotp.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/the-abolistionist-header.png?w=500&amp;h=58" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="500" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The comparison of abortion to slavery/genocide is usually dismissed for purely visceral reasons (are those really reasons?), so I thought it would be worthwhile to examine how the comparison is accurate and in which ways it may not be. &nbsp;Let’s begin with genocide.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Genocide is the systematic murder of a people group, and abortion belongs in this category inasmuch as there is a subgroup of human beings, those still in the womb, who have been dehumanized in order to justify their destruction. &nbsp;How is abortion unlike other genocides? Well, firstly the preborn aren’t part of a different ethnic group from their attackers, and secondly they have no means of resistance.<span id="more-1021" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Next we come to slavery. &nbsp;With slavery the “owner” was free to choose whether or not a slave had value and would survive. &nbsp;Slaves were a commodity, and usually their lives weren’t ended unless the “owner” thought it would be more lucrative for the slave to die. &nbsp;Likewise, babies en route to birth are treated as items for the auction block. &nbsp;If unwanted, they are judged by society as having no value and are likely to be killed. &nbsp;If they are wanted, society decides to treat them as human beings after all and act accordingly.<a href="http://lotp.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/negro-fetus.jpeg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Negro Fetus" class="alignright size-large wp-image-922" height="323" src="http://lotp.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/negro-fetus.jpeg?w=500&amp;h=323" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 7px; max-width: 100%;" width="500" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Is human worth based on nothing more concrete than a community’s estimation? &nbsp;Are you only what other people think you are? &nbsp;Do individual members of society alone determine the value of life? Is perception truly reality?</div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank God this isn’t so! &nbsp;There is a reality that exists and to which all perceptions must conform or be revealed as delusions. The author of reality is not you, or I, but the God who made us both and all else. You bear his image, the divine impression – however marred – and so does the human being now developing in her/his mother’s uterus.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To play at costs and benefits in deciding whether or not to kill such a being as you, I, or our counterpart in utero is no different than a slave owner deciding whether or not to sacrifice the lives of his human “property.” The mass-murder of the pre-born population accompanied by a campaign to dehumanize the victims and cover up the aftermath is no different than genocide. Allow your conscience to be informed by reason, and then let conscience dictate your actions. And if, like us, you accept the revelation that God made human beings in his image; welcome to Abolitionism.</div></div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-80988108966467494852013-09-01T17:30:00.003-07:002013-09-01T17:33:12.351-07:00"Manipulation"What IS manipulation? &nbsp;Or, at least, what do people mean when they say it? &nbsp;It's usually used in a negative sense, &nbsp;to discount a person or their behavior. &nbsp;I am motivated to write this after a local pastor said that my friend and I showing images of children killed by abortion came off as "manipulative and unloving".<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9QIOoj9_yK8/UiPZzQ5BwsI/AAAAAAAAAfk/56__jv0gILQ/s1600/awscld.008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9QIOoj9_yK8/UiPZzQ5BwsI/AAAAAAAAAfk/56__jv0gILQ/s320/awscld.008.jpg" width="320" /></a>First off, we ought to acknowledge that it is much easier to <i>accuse </i>someone of manipulation than to <i>clear </i>oneself from the charge of being manipulative. &nbsp;But why is it so hard to prove innocence here? <br />I think it's because the word like others (i.e., "hate", "extremism", "sensationalism" "uneducated")&nbsp;is used far more often than it's understood. <br />So, let's try to understand it.<br /><br />Firstly, it doesn't (or shouldn't) mean simply "deception", or similar words. &nbsp;If that's all we mean, then we should just <i>say </i>deception and stick with words we know the meanings of.<br /><br />I think what people mean most often when they say "manipulation" is close to the neutral definition: "to handle or control". &nbsp;We don't like the idea of being "handled" or "controlled", of course, but this definition is problematic.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Well, because almost <i>every </i>effort to persuade, including every argument, story, and every educational talk is meant to bring about or control a state of affairs in the listener's mind and behavior; i.e., to "manipulate" a situation for good or ill. &nbsp;We seek to get people to see things a certain way with argument, to bring them to the state of being entertained, intrigued, or enlightened by a story, to thinking along a common line by "education".<br /><br />If someone is arguing or telling a story for the sake of arguing or telling a story, we'd barely bother to listen; (they may as well be speaking to a wall if the listener's response to their words doesn't matter.) &nbsp;I honestly don't think this happens very often. &nbsp;Usually when people speak, it's to elicit a response from their hearer, and the speaker usually has a specific desired response in mind. &nbsp;If the speaker is successful in bringing about the desired change, they have "manipulated" their hearer (for good or ill).<br /><br />So, the mere fact that we attempt to move the people on the receiving end of our communication can't be what we mean (or think we mean) when we accuse someone of manipulation. &nbsp;Here's what I think we mean, or ought to mean, when we cry foul and object to "manipulation":<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0lDMr3lIYOs/UiPZs5AVSvI/AAAAAAAAAfc/xnYwXtWmlVE/s1600/Case-alemania-streetartnewses-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0lDMr3lIYOs/UiPZs5AVSvI/AAAAAAAAAfc/xnYwXtWmlVE/s200/Case-alemania-streetartnewses-2.jpg" width="148" /></a>In a word, we mean behaviorism; or rather two words: "Mere" behaviorism. <br /><b>When someone uses the predictable laws of psychology to get desired behavior out of you <br />(and here's the clincher), without regard to whether or not you:</b><br /><b>a.) Are being motivated by the truth<br />b.) Understand what's causing you to behave in the desired way (the methods used to persuade you)<br />c.) Are helped or hurt&nbsp;(that is, without regard to you as a person). &nbsp;</b><br /><b><br /></b><br />"Manipulation" is an umbrella word then, which could entail deception or facts, intimidation or kindness, appeal to emotion or reason. &nbsp;(I include c.) because parents do "b.)" to their children pretty often; when they offer them rewards for doing beneficial things (e.g. reading, going to the dentist) they do not fully understand the worth of, or punish them for the converse. &nbsp;The same goes with societies and economies (carrot/stick methods), and I don't think without "c.)" most people wouldn't consider this kind of thing manipulation.)<br /><br />But allowing what I've written above is true, does that mean that manipulation is always wrong? &nbsp;If I'm hiding Jews from the Gestapo, and the Gestapo shows up at my door, I'm not terribly concerned with engaging them as authentic human beings. &nbsp;My aim is to get certain behavior out of them: i.e., <i>leave -</i>without discovering my Jewish friends. &nbsp;Whatever I say afterward, true or untrue, is by our definition manipulation.<br />Or, say I'm on a bus and I see a young girl getting aggressively and unwelcomely hit on by a Very Large and Threatening Man. There are few other passengers on the bus. &nbsp;I could a.) confront the man, get pummeled most likely, and in an unconscious state not be able to help the girl any further. Or b.) attempt to distract him. So I attempt to engage the man in harmless conversation, asking about the time and the weather. &nbsp;I don't care terribly about him, the time, or the weather, I'm just trying to get some behavior out of him; i.e.<i> stop harassing that girl</i>.<br /><br />Both of these scenarios involve <i>manipulating</i> a dangerous person or persons, but most people would rather congratulate the manipulator in these cases on his/her "quick thinking", rather than turn the nose up at the method. &nbsp;Yet even this must be a desperate method, since Paul (in Acts 24) seems a little conscience stricken at his use of manipulation (recounted in Acts 23) to get out of a mock trial where he was beginning to get slapped around. &nbsp;Perhaps this is because he was doing it merely to save his own hide, or perhaps I've misinterpreted his words as a confession of guilt. Either way, it seems that it's the same sort of thing as violence or outright lying: methods only excusable when we're trying to save innocent parties in our care from evil ones and have no other recourse. &nbsp;Acts of virtue at its wit's end.<br /><br />On a tamer note, don't we "manipulate" all the time? <br />For instance - I'm nice to service staff for two reasons. &nbsp;One, sympathy and recognition of their humanity, in God's image (so far so good). Two, because I am convinced of the maxim "you get more flies with honey than vinegar" (manipulation). Now is this properly wrong? &nbsp;It's obviously not ideal, but it's hardly something most people would object to. And we do this constantly in our human interactions. &nbsp;How many of you act deferentially to your supervisors because you pure-heartedly honor their position of authority? &nbsp;How often do you act in a certain way to supervisors/co-workers in ways calculated to win acclaim/security without all that much thought to their individual God-given value?<br /><br />Or, take the military. &nbsp;A commander isn't terrible concerned that the units under his command understand why they're falling back <i>now </i>or attacking <i>this </i>spot or advancing <i>there</i>. &nbsp;He isn't even (with exceptions I'm sure) ultimately concerned with the individual soldier's well-being as much as the outcome of the battle/war. In fact, a lot of basic training is specifically to ready men to be "manipulated" by commands; and most soldiers know this to be the case, even as it's happening - it is (if it were possible) consensual manipulation.<br /><br />But what's my point in all this? &nbsp;What am I trying to get you to do or think?<br /><br /><u>Precisely this</u>: &nbsp;Be careful, please, when you use the words "manipulation" or "manipulative"; that you're using them appropriately and fairly. Don't just use it to point out that someone wants a specific response from you, (because everyone does, and that's nothing remarkable). &nbsp;They might even want a good, right and true response from you, and your objecting to that response doesn't justify calling it "manipulation". &nbsp;Rather explain why you disagree with the rightness of that response. <br /><br />If someone IS&nbsp;using predictable laws of psychology to get desired behavior out of you&nbsp;without regard to whether or not you:<br />a.) Are being motivated by the truth<br />b.) Understand what's causing you to behave in the desired way&nbsp;(the methods used to persuade you)<br />c.) Are helped or hurt&nbsp;(that is, without regard to you as a person). <br /><br />Then, by all means object to it as manipulation, and even do them a favor and explain where they crossed the line.Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-50652297441512535432013-08-23T22:33:00.002-07:002013-08-23T22:38:08.143-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VE-QkAnl_7Q/UhhFs57kexI/AAAAAAAAAfA/PvhVVhj0200/s1600/Mary+Anderson+as+Galatea+in+Pygmalion+&amp;+Galatea-Photo-B&amp;W-Resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VE-QkAnl_7Q/UhhFs57kexI/AAAAAAAAAfA/PvhVVhj0200/s200/Mary+Anderson+as+Galatea+in+Pygmalion+&amp;+Galatea-Photo-B&amp;W-Resized.jpg" width="122" /></a></div>The first breath of Galatea<br />as a coal first taking flame,<br />to see through eyes that see an author<br />to feel a presence through the frame,<br />Patient are the patients,<br />being born from tin to flesh;<br />who would have thought by crucifixion<br />we could become immune to death?Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-71955316451375498352013-08-19T04:43:00.000-07:002013-08-19T06:30:56.102-07:00Prayer.Indwelling fire from a higher plane<br /><div>You who hovered over first waters</div><div>intercede, please, for me.</div><div>You will funnel me towards</div><div>the well's living mouth</div><div>to see His words.</div><div>But now, I am trying to speak</div><div>break through my frail utterings</div><div>and carry my thought to God</div><div>tempered with salt to rise</div><div>acceptable, pure,</div><div>something worth saying</div><div>with weight and draw-</div><div>nothing vain;</div><div>to turn your ear to me</div><div>my Father, Father,</div><div>to hear.</div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-71284617753412092662013-08-16T22:56:00.002-07:002013-08-16T22:56:35.357-07:00Peace when there is no peace.<br /><br />Why is it that peace in most situations means simply "people not bothering me"? &nbsp;As long as the wheels of an organization are turning, anyone that points out an injustice are labelled disturbers of the peace. &nbsp;If you're at work and point out harassment to or from coworkers, it might be forgiven by management once, but any more than that and you'll be labelled as "not a team player." &nbsp;A government can fine you for something you didn't do, and place the burden on you to prove you didn't do it or else you're stuck with the fine. &nbsp;And this is peace, as long as they aren't bothered by your protests.<br /><br />As long as the powerful aren't feeling bothered, there is "peace". &nbsp;If the weak protest against abuse, they have disturbed that peace. &nbsp;This is not "peace".Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-67827158049954170222013-08-16T22:56:00.001-07:002013-08-16T22:56:20.086-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r3vanXdOEb0/Ug8ONo4i20I/AAAAAAAAAek/Uemm5nhjEuc/s1600/18540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r3vanXdOEb0/Ug8ONo4i20I/AAAAAAAAAek/Uemm5nhjEuc/s320/18540.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Was reading and interpreting some of T.S. Elliot's "Four Quartets" to the kids this afternoon before work. &nbsp;They've memorized the ending line, which reads as follows:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />"And all shall be well</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">and all manner of thing shall be well</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">when the tongues of flame are infolded</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">into the crowned knot of fire</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">and the fire and the rose are one."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(Which I take to be referring to the great Restoration of All Things/Descent of the Heavenly Jerusalem to the New Earth.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">So today we were working on a passage previous to that which reads:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />"Ash on an old man's sleeve,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">is all the ash that the burnt roses leave</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">dust in the air suspended</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">marks the place where a story ended."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Jaelle already knows that bit pretty well, &nbsp;I've explained it to her as the resolution of the human body (after death) into dust/ash, the end of the story of our bodily life on this present earth. &nbsp;As best as I can figure out what Elliot was writing about, the quartets are about creation, fall, redemption, death, and re-creation. &nbsp; The rose seems to be a symbol for human bodily life, and the fire is a symbol for God's power of life (in the spirit of "our God is a consuming fire"). &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">We also read and recited together a really neat section (as we threw a medicine ball back and forth) which I take as describing the Spirit's work in death to self/life to God (preempting the "final death" of the lake of fire), referencing the "fire" Jesus said he came to cast on the earth. &nbsp;We read through that bit too.<br /></span><br /><br /><h1 class="quoteText" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">"The dove descending breaks the air<br />With flame of incandescent terror<br />Of which the tongues declare<br />The one discharge from sin and error.<br />The only hope, or else despair<br />Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-<br />To be redeemed from fire by fire."</span></h1><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Prior to all this my mind was really cloudy, not sure if that was because I'd slept too long, or eaten too much last night; but somehow the poetry cleared it up considerably. &nbsp;It's been a while since I've gone through any poetry aside from constantly reciting "Jabberwocky" with the kids.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Speaking of which, we just finished "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jabberwocky-Daniel-Coleman/dp/1461047374">Jabberwocky</a>" by Daniel Coleman. &nbsp;It was really good, surprisingly so - especially for a young-adult novel I got free on Kindle. &nbsp;He's since re-published it on paper and there's no more kindle edition. &nbsp;It's $15, but very much worth a library trip.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kmt34gF4MSA/Ug8Phdc-PFI/AAAAAAAAAes/2Ca2ZUTJbkw/s1600/yorkie07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kmt34gF4MSA/Ug8Phdc-PFI/AAAAAAAAAes/2Ca2ZUTJbkw/s200/yorkie07.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">But back to the poetry - or at least the clarity of mind it lent...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">My presence of mind was restored enough to deal with Josiah's crisis on the porch, as the contractor's little terrier/terrorist charged him as he was playing near a tree. &nbsp;It was all bark, but did its best to act threatening, and didn't respond until the owner had spent some fifteen seconds calling it off. &nbsp;It had scampered off before I figured out what was going on and came over to the scene of the crime. &nbsp;Josiah was pretty shaken up, which surprised me because when I'd arrived he kept up a brave front and was smiling. &nbsp;Brandy could tell he wasn't quite all right though and as soon as mommy started asking if he was all right the tears came. &nbsp; I talked with him for a while, asked if there was anything he'd like me to do about it, and he hesitantly suggested I ask the owner to put it on a leash.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I thought that was a very reasonable idea and asked the owner to put his dog on a leash, and he complied. &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;I reminded Josiah he could easily kill an animal that small if he picked it up and threw it or gave it a good kick, and I had him try and work it out on a punching pad until the shock of dog-attack wore off. &nbsp;It's rough being a kid.</span></div>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30495572.post-17206551422598375032013-08-12T03:59:00.004-07:002013-08-12T21:18:36.890-07:00The Urge of Him Who Lives Forever & Ever.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YnaQgfweWDE/Ugi_bp87FUI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/AH1zYVcRLXw/s1600/blake-24-elders-at-the-throne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YnaQgfweWDE/Ugi_bp87FUI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/AH1zYVcRLXw/s320/blake-24-elders-at-the-throne.jpg" width="260" /></span></a><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,</span><br /><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to receive glory and honor and power,</span><br /><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for you created all things,</span><br /><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and by your will they existed and were created."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">What is the meaning of life? Why did God create the Universe? Who made God? What's it all about?<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All these questions are shadows, haunted hollows. &nbsp;It is these and more that the vision given to John on Patmos fills and answers with fire.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"You Created all things"&nbsp;</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is Divine data, written on the fabric of the Universe like a watermark and received by &nbsp;all, though suppressed by some. &nbsp;This is the "what".</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"...by your will they existed and were created."</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">What is deeper, further back, more fundamental than the will? &nbsp;When we speak of causes, reasons, and the like ("I did this because I was low on sleep/had too much coffee/grew up in a broken home/didn't take my meds etc...), we aren't talking about the will. &nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The will is uncaused, it doesn't exist as a cog in the mechanical cause &amp; effect realm (though it dialogues with it). &nbsp;The will perceives possibilities, and chooses. &nbsp;God's will, the source of all created wills, is infinitely more so uncaused. &nbsp;There is no sense in asking what caused God to will the universe, seen and unseen, into existence. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is not to say that God's decision to create was arbitrary or frivolous. &nbsp;We call decisions without thought arbitrary, and decisions without serious purpose or value we call frivolous. But this cannot be applied to God, and may be misleading even when speaking of human wills. &nbsp;God is personal, and is the ultimate ground and source of thought and purpose. &nbsp;If such a being has a desire, it will not (by nature of its source) be thoughtless or purposeless in the sense connoted by "arbitrary/frivolous".&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The will (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2307&amp;t=KJV">θέλημα</a>, in Greek as used in the verse above),</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;is synonymous with </span><i style="font-size: small;">desire</i><span style="font-size: x-small;">. And </span><i style="font-size: small;">persons </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">desire. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mechanical</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">flowcharts (of the kind many neuroscientists and psychologists want to reduce us to) do not. &nbsp;The will is a fundamental thing, which is a source of other things - it is not a product,of other things. Our wills are informed and presented with possibilities by the external created universe, but God, at the point of Creation, was limited by no such externals. &nbsp;Only the council of the Father, Word, and Spirit. &nbsp;The desire of God. &nbsp;His Love - for what is Love but a fundamental preference, or desire?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As God showed Julian of Norwich: <br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">"He showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, in the palm of my hand; and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding, and thought: what may this be? And it was answered thus: "It is all that is made". I marveled how it might last, for I thought if might suddenly have fallen into nothing for its smallness. And I was answered in my understanding: "It lasts, and ever shall last, because God loves it."</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Or as George MacDonald says it:<br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">"We do not, I mean, to speak after the manner of men, come of God's intellect, but of His imagination. He did not make us with His hands, but loved us out of His heart."</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">And as such things loved into existence - or even, thank God, more than things: <i>persons </i>with wills in God's own image! - what can we do but say with those in the vision:<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;">"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">to receive glory and honor and power!"</span>Urielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00148564172743857591noreply@blogger.com0